Displaying items by tag: childcare

In England, working parents are being encouraged to apply for 15 hours of free childcare per week for their toddlers starting in the new year. This initiative is part of a broader reform by the Department for Education, which also includes a childminder start-up grant. Additionally, a £400 million funding increase for early years providers is planned for 2024-25. Chancellor Jeremy Hunt's budget plans, announced in March, will extend this offer to families of children as young as nine months, providing thirty hours of free childcare every week. Starting in April 2024, this benefit will be available for parents of two-year-olds and will expand to include children over nine months from September next year. However, opposition critics, including the shadow education secretary and Liberal Democrat spokesperson, argue that the policy is not feasible due to a shortage of childcare providers and insufficient government funding. They warn of a potential crisis in childcare services.

A Sutton Trust report urges the Government to reverse its ‘ill-advised’ decision not to extend the childcare offer for 3- and 4-year-olds to non-working parents, which risks increasing the gap in school readiness between disadvantaged children and their peers. Working parents are currently entitled to double the standard fifteen hours of free weekly childcare that is available universally. In a survey, 80% of head teachers said that many children arrived at primary school not ready for classroom activities, and 86% said the situation is worse now than five years ago. The trust said that early years childcare increased the benefits for children whose parents have lower incomes or lower levels of education, or whose first language is not English. Although it is understandable that the Government wants to improve access to childcare for working parents, this must not be at the expense of good early education for disadvantaged children.

A survey of 17,000 parents suggests that over 60% are 'unprepared' for the Government’s Tax-Free Childcare scheme (TFC). By 16 August, 108,000 parents had successfully signed up to TFC. This compares with over 780,000 parents currently using childcare vouchers. 98% of parents said they would like access to childcare vouchers to be kept open alongside TFC. As of April next year, childcare vouchers will be closed to new entrants. In light of the findings, there are renewed calls for the Government to revise plans to close access to vouchers. Also, over 3,000 childcare providers found that 48% of parents had either not heard of TFC or didn’t feel ‘well-informed’ about the scheme. 20% of those who had registered had experienced issues about receiving payments in a ‘timely manner'.